100

A classic trip down pop memory lane, 'Two Doors Down' is like a bubblegum version of Lloyd Cole And The Commotions for the iPod generation. Catchy as Hell and never taking itself too seriously, Blaine and co. channel their inner intellect with a Doherty-esque reverence, referencing Television's 'Marquee Moon' along the way (not to mention introducing the wider world to Ms. Laura Marling). (MW)

99

The flip side of ‘Time To Pretend’’s existential rock star angst, ‘Kids’ was joyously light. It found Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden in love with the fragmentary innocence of childhood, the lightness of just being. An early version of the track (from the ‘Time To Pretend’ EP in 2005) sounds cheerful but cheap, as if it were being played off ‘My First Keyboard’ from the Early...

98

Anchored by a Replacement-ish guitar figure and a cyclical, almost hip-hop drum riff, ‘Men’s Needs’ was a great peak in The Cribs run of great singles. Power trio of Ryan, Gary and Ross hurtle things along as per but there’s a new clarity to their sound, as if producer Alex Kapranos decided to strip things back to their sleek indie essentials. A sense of the joyous over-rides as Gary piggybacks onto...

97

A swell of post-Beach Boys, Animal Collective-like harmonies take off as guitars swoop in, like ribbons wrapping round a birthday present. You almost don’t notice the music shifting uneasily between post-punk clatter and spaced-out orchestration. Undoubtedly this was the sound of the Klaxons riding high, catching a wave that would lead to the pop peak of ‘Myths Of The Near Future’). They were dipping their...

96

When this casually brilliant garage-punk brawler was released, The Horrors were still routinely derided as shallow scenesters. How were folk to know what they’d become, people say. Well, bollocks, frankly, the evidence of their genius was there right from the start, as well as of the omnivorous and exquisite musical taste that would blossom darkly in the years to come. The drumbeat is based on the flipping Amen...

95

Karin and Olof would never sound this human again; caught in the grip of broken promises and infidelity, ‘Heartbeats’ become a sort of unofficial template for the Scandinavian pop that would follow in the next decade. Deep synth chords ruminate, as processed drums click off whilst someone plays the cowbell as if it were a steel drum. Karin delivers perhaps the prettiest vocal of her career and equally Olof’s...

94

Music needs rebels and shit-stirrers as much as it needs visionaries and geniuses, so when a bunch of gobby bi-sexual Brazilians burst onto the scene aping Beyonce (“I'm tired of being sexy”) and with fucking and dancing on the brain, it was difficult not to take notice. Not that you could ignore the debut single, a demented jaunt into new wave electro that grooved along like classic disco whilst...

93

OK, it might not be the song everyone bellows for at live shows, but ‘Reckoner’ is one of Radiohead’s most subtle and powerful songs. Lyrically and melodically, it’s so slight it’s barely there – and yet it still manages to worm its way inside your brain. Perhaps that’s because it’s not really all about Thom Yorke’s falsetto vocal (though it’s one of his warmest and most understated); but more...

92

The cold-hearted zombies of 2011 might hear this chirpy lovesick shuffle as some kind of pied-piper's call to their local DIY superstore to tool up with nailguns and hacksaws (the war against twee is raging, people), but things were different in 2006. Looped around the kind of melody that demands the nodding of head and swinging of pants, this, of course, will always be remembered for that whistle. In...

91

Lyrically the message was very simple. It was a song about wanting a place of your own. Strong physical foundations of your place of abode (that matched the strong emotional bonds between kith and kin), "four strong walls and Abode slats," sang Noah Lennox. The music, however, was revolutionary, even by Animal Collective's standards. Beach Boys harmonies met Robin S' 'You Got The Love', whilst the spectre...